Netflix's new true crime drama series, Apple Cider Vinegar, reveals Belle Gibson's scandalous story, but many viewers wonder what happened to her real-life son.
Gibson's story shocked the world in 2015 when it was revealed the wellness influencer had lied about having terminal brain cancer and profited off the business she made by claiming that a healthy lifestyle cured her illness.
In Apple Cider Vinegar, Kaitlyn Dever plays Gibson, and many other real people from her life are present in the show.
Who Is Belle Gibson's Son in Apple Cider Vinegar?
Many elements of Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar are grounded in fact, including that Gibson became a mother at a young age and was parenting her son during her rise to social media fame.
As The Australian Women's Weekly reported, Gibson gave birth to a son in 2010 with her boyfriend at the time, Nathan Corbett.
This is depicted similarly in the Netflix show with Julian Weeks portraying Corbett. Several young actors appear as Belle's son in the series at different ages. The name of Gibson's son in real life has not been publicly confirmed, likely to protect his identity.
By 2012, Gibson was with a new partner, IT worker Clive Rothwell (Ashley Zukerman in the series), and revealed the couple had gone through a miscarriage. In the Netflix series, Gibson and Corbett are shown sharing custody of their son, but it's unclear what the exact arrangement is in real life.
Many facts about Gibson's life were pulled from the book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano (the journalists who also broke Gibson's story in 2015).
Some moments from the book made it on screen, such as Gibson allegedly faking a seizure at her son's fourth birthday party. However, according to showrunner Samantha Strauss (via The Guardian), other scenes, like when Gibson locks her son in his bedroom, were fictionalized.
In 2015, after Gibson's lies were revealed to the world, her PR manager at Bespoke Approach told Women's Weekly that she was set to move out of the beachfront home she shared with Rothwell and her son.
Where Is Belle Gibson's Son Now?
Since Gibson's son's identity was protected after the scandal, few details about his whereabouts remain publicly available.
Following the ending of Apple Cider Vinegar, Gibson was charged a $410,000 fine by the Australian government in real life and has spent the years since dodging the payment.
In 2019, Gibson appeared in court to discuss her financial spending (via The Age). She said she lived with Rothwell and her eight-year-old son in Northcote Melbourne but claimed not to have a romantic relationship with him.
Gibson said that Rothwell covered many of her expenses, including contributing $5,000 to a trip she took with her son to East Africa in 2019. She also declined to explain how her son's school fees, which were said to be $1,000, were paid.
This most recent update seemed to paint the picture that Gibson still cares for her son. The child would be around 14 years old today, but it's unknown where he is now, as Gibson has kept him out of the public eye in recent years.
Gibson's relationship with her son is a significant focus in Apple Cider Vinegar, even down to the series' final scene, in which she sits with Clive and her son by their swimming pool.
Dever shared with Tudum that her intention with this scene was to show that Belle "really does want to be a good mom:"
"She wants to give love to her son. At her core, Belle really does want to be a good mom. That’s what I was thinking about in that moment. That scene is really twisted. It’s dark, heartbreaking, sad — it’s so many emotions wrapped up into one."
Apple Cider Vinegar is streaming on Netflix.
